Elmer Bernstein - feature film composer (1922-2004)2004 would have been Elmer Bernstein's 53rd anniversary as a feature film composer. His name will always be synonymous with creativity, versatility and longevity. He wrote music for over 200 major film and television scores and was nominated fourteen times for an Academy Award® for such films as Far From Heaven, The Age of Innocence, To Kill A Mockingbird, and The Magnificent Seven, among others. He was also awarded the Oscar for best film score for Thoroughly Modern Millie. His presence will always be remembered as an exceptional advisory board member. Click here for Elmer's complete filmography.

Bingham Ray - distributor, producer (1954-2012)Bingham Ray was a long-time adviosry boad member, distributor and producer, celebrated for his colorful ways. Named Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Society in 2011, Ray was a major player in the independent film world. He was a co-founder of the independent film production company October Films in 1991 and was its president until 1999, when USA Networks bought it. October Films produced the highly acclaimed Secrets & Lies and The Apostle, starring Robert Duvall, among others.

In 2001, Ray became president of United Artists, overseeing the production of Bowling for Columbine and Hotel Rwanda. From United Artists, Ray went on to join Sidney Kimmel Entertainment. Immediately prior to joining the San Francisco Film Society, Ray was a programming consultant to the Film Society of Lincoln Center and was an adjunct professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. His tenacity and passion will always be remembered.

Advisory Board Members:

Judy Arthur - Public Relations consultantJudy Arthur directs public relations and marketing campaigns for the entertainment industry and cultural, international, and public affairs. She has been a public relations executive at PolyGram Films, Orion Pictures, and HBO, directing campaigns for numerous Academy Award® winning films including Philadelphia, The Silence of the Lambs and The Killing Fields.

Joe Berlinger
Academy Award and seven-time Emmy nominated and Peabody and Emmy-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger has been a leading voice in nonfiction film and television for two decades. Berlinger's films include the landmark documentaries BROTHER'S KEEPER, the PARADISE LOST Trilogy, which helped lead to the recent release of the wrongfully-convicted West Memphis Three, and METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER, a film that re-defined the rockumentary genre. CRUDE, about oil pollution in the Amazon Rainforest, won 22 human rights, environmental and film festival awards. Six of Berlinger's documentary features have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, including his Emmy-winning 2012 Paul Simon documentary UNDER AFRICAN SKIES and, more recently, for CNNFilms, WHITEY: THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA vs. JAMES J. BULGER . He has also received multiple awards from the Directors Guild of America, the National Board of Review and the Independent Spirit Awards. He has created, directed and produced countless hours of television including the critically-acclaimed Sundance series Iconoclasts, Oprah’s Master Class for the Oprah Winfrey Network, The System with Joe Berlinger for Al Jazeera America and the upcoming Judgment Day: Prison or Parole? for Investigation Discovery. Berlinger’s latest feature documentary, TONY ROBBINS: I AM NOT YOUR GURU, capturing renowned life and business strategist and best-selling author, Tony Robbins, in a revelatory cinéma vérité film going behind the scenes of his mega once-a-year seminar “Date With Destiny,' and giving an insider look at how one man can affect millions, will be released worldwide by Netflix on July 15, 2016.

In addition to his distribution duties for Magnolia Pictures, Eamonn is a member of rock 'n' roll band 'The Martinets'. Check out their second album, "New Stories for Men." Visit www.magpictures.com for more.

Robin Bronk - CEO of The Creative CoalitionRobin Bronk is CEO of The Creative Coalition—the leading national, nonprofit, nonpartisan social and public advocacy organization of the arts and entertainment industry. Bronk created the Spotlight Initiative, a division of The Creative Coalition that produces and supports films with messages important to the domestic and global agendas. She is an author and public speaker and most recently produced the feature film airing on Showtime, Poliwood, directed by Academy Award® winner Barry Levinson. She was selected to be a participant in the 2010 and 2011 Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Conference and has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, People, Boston Globe, The Washington Post;

Claude Dal Farra- Principal of BCDF Pictures
Claude Dal Farra is one of the principals of BCDF Pictures, a Hudson Valley-based company that has produced a number of feature films in 2010 and 2011, including Higher Ground directed by and starring Vera Farmiga, Peace, Love, & Misunderstanding featuring a star-studded cast including Jane Fonda, Catherine Keener, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Chase Crawford, Predisposed, starring Melissa Leo, Jess Eisenberg and Tracy Morgan and The Last Keepers, Rhymes with Banana, Liberal Arts and Bachelorette.

Vincent D'Onofrio - ActorVincent D'Onofrio is known as an "actor's actor." The wide variety of roles he has played and the quality of his work have earned him a reputation as a versatile talent. He studied at the Actors Studio and the American Stanislavski Theatre. His debut on stage was in 1984 in the Broadway play Open Admissions, followed by work in numerous other stage plays. As a film actor, D'Onofrio's career break came when he played a mentally unbalanced recruit in Full Metal Jacket, directed by the renowned Stanley Kubrick.

In 2001 D'Onofrio took the role which has likely given him his greatest public recognition: Det. Robert Goren, the lead character in the TV series Law & Order: Criminal Intent. A new cop drama was recently set up at NBC in which D'Onofrio will co-star with Ethan Hawke in Blue Tilt.

Griffin Dunne - Director, Producer, ActorGriffin Dunne is a director (The Accidental Husband, Fierce People, Addicted to Love, Practical Magic, Lisa Picard is Famous); producer (Baby It's You, Running On Empty, After Hours, Fierce People, Game 6); and actor (The Great Buck Howard, Marie and Bruce, American Werewolf in London, After Hours, Game 6). As a screenwriter, he co-wrote Spin (Dreamworks) and with co-writer Adam Brooks, the Academy Award® nominated short, Duke of Groove.

Leon Gast - FilmmakerProducer, director, editor and writer of Smash His Camera, the Award winning flm about paparazzi extraordinaire Ron Galella. When We Were Kings, the Academy Award® winning documentary of the 1974 heavyweight championship bout in Zaire between champion George Foreman and underdog challenger Muhammad Ali. Other film credits include 1 Love, Hell's Angels Forever, The Grateful Dead Movie and Celia Cruz: Quantanamera.

Jonathan Gray - Attorney and Production CounselA practicing attorney since 1990, Jonathan Gray is the senior partner at Gray Krauss Des Rochers LLP (“GKD”) and is the former chairperson of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Motion Pictures. GKD has provided production counsel services on well over 100 films. Gray is also an award-winning independent film producer and executive producer on films including Putzel, The Art of Getting By and Hello I Must Be Going among others.

Ethan Hawke - Actor, DirectorEthan's film credits as an actor include Brooklyn's Finest, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Taking Lives, Assault on Precinct 13, Training Day (Academy Award® nominated for Best Supporting Actor), Tape, Waking Life, Snow Falling on Cedars, Hamlet, Great Expectations, The Newton Boys, Gattaca, Before Sunset, Before Sunrise, Reality Bites, Floundering, White Fang, Dead Poets Society, and Daybreakers. As a feature film director, his credits include Chelsea Walls and The Hottest State.

Sabine Hoffman - EditorCredits include Rebecca Miller films Personal Velocity, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, and The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, starring Robin Wright and Blake Lively, Rodney Evans Brother to Brother, Ryan Piers Williams The Dry Land and Morgan J. Freemanan's films Hurricane Streets and Desert Blue. Documentary credits include Last Party 2000, with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Skydancer, and the Academy Award® nominated Ferry Tales. Sabine serves as an adjunct professor at Columbia University and founded the Editing Award for feature and documentary narratives at the Woodstock Film Festival in 2004.

Gill Holland - Producer and Partner, The Group Entertainment
Gill has worked on over fifty films. Nominated for the Spirit Award for Producer of the Year 1998, Gill produced Sundance-winning Hurricane Streets, the FOX sitcom Greg the Bunny, Sundance faves Spring Forward and Loggerheads, Emmy-nominated Dear Jesse, and Spirit Award winner SweetLand. He produced three volumes of cineBLAST!, the short film video compilations. His music label sonaBLAST! Records' first releases from Mark Geary both hit top 40 in Ireland. He is renovating Louisville’s first LEED certified platinum green building. Recently Gill has produced the documentaries Carbon Nation, Toxic Soup and Beautiful Darling.

Ted Hope - Producer21 Grams, American Splendor, Happiness, In the Bedroom Ted Hope, co-founder of This is that & Good Machine, has produced over sixty films, including three Sundance Grand Prize winners and the first features of Alan Ball, Michel Gondry, Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, and Ang Lee. He blogs at HopeForFilm.com and co-founded the Indie Film review site HammerToNail.com. As a producer Ted worked on Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), Super (2010), and Adventure Land (2009).

Michael Lang - Producer, PromoterAs the founder of Woodstock Ventures, Michael is best known as the producer and promoter of the Woodstock Music & Arts Festival (1969, 1994 & 1999). In addition to his core business of event production and music management he is currently working on the production of a film based on the novel The Master and Margarita by Mikeal Bulgakov. Other film credits include Bottle Rocket, the debut film of director Wes Anderson and actors Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson. His autobiographical book THE ROAD TO WOODSTOCK was published in 2009. In 2009, Michael was executive producer of the TV documentary Woodstock: Now & Then.

Melissa Leo - Academy Award® Winning ActressAfter supporting roles in a handful of small films and a short stint on the soap opera All My Children, New York-born Melissa Leo gained prominence on the critically-acclaimed Barry Levinson-produced television drama Homicide: Life on the Streets. After leaving the show in 1997, Leo continued to appear in a range of features, including 2003's 21 Grams which gave Leo her first exposure to a wide moviegoing audience.
She continued to work steadily in a series of independent films including American Gun,The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and Stephanie Daley. In 2008 she landed the lead role in Courtney Hunt's debut feature Frozen River for which Leo earned thunderous critical praise as well as Best Actress nominations from both the Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy.

In 2011, Leo earned the Oscar® for Best Supporting Actress for her roll as Alice Ward The Fighter.

Ron MannToronto filmmaker Ron Mann is one of Canada's foremost documentary filmmakers. Mann established his international reputation while in his twenties with a series of award-winning theatrical documentaries, including Imagine the Sound (1981), Poetry in Motion (1982), Comic Book Confidential (1988), Twist (1992), and Grass (1999). Ron’s other films include Go Further (2003), Tales of the Rat Fink (2006), Know Your Mushrooms (2008), and In the Wake of the Flood (2010) and Altman (2014), a feature length documentary based on the life and art of Robert Altman. Ron has also acted as executive producer on the documentaries Brakhage (1998), Examined Life (2008), Mighty Uke (2010), and Lunarcy! (2012) as well as the television series Pure Pwnage (2010).

In 2002, Ron also founded FILMS WE LIKE, a boutique distributor of documentary, independent and international films in Canada. Beginning with Sam Green and Bill Siegel's The Weather Underground (2002), Films We Like has released over 300 films and counting

Jeremiah Newton - NYU Industry LiaisonAs Film and Television Industry Liaison for the largest film school in America, New York Universitys Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television, Mr. Newton created The Directors Series that takes place twice a week involving the latest Hollywood, independent, documentary and foreign feature films. Mr. Newton also administrates the Mentor Program, which finds industry, mentors for film and television students. Jeramiah produced Beautiful Darling, which was screened at the 2010 Woodstock FIlm Festival. His writing credits include work on I Shot Andy Warhol.

Stephen Nemeth - Producer
Stephen Nemeth formed and heads up Rhino Films. He is working with Amnesty International through Artists for Amnesty on developing and producing human rights related projects. His producer credits include Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,Why Do Fools Fall in Love,Dogtown and Z Boys and What We Do Is Secret. He executive-produced War/Dance,Fuel,Flow,Climate Refugees,Under the Boardwalk: The Monopoly Story,Mr. Bitchin and Pick Up The Mic.

Annie Nocenti - Screenwriter, EditorAnnie Nocenti spent four months in Haiti just after the 2010 earthquake producing films -- reportage, short docs, and a feature documentary -- with her students at the Cine Institute in Jacmel, Haiti (click on video on our website to see the films: www.cineinstitute.com). Her journalism has appeared in Details, Utne, HEEB, Stop Smiling, PRINT, Filmmaker, Scenario, and more. She has written about Baluchistan (The Most Expensive Road Trip in the World, Best Travel Writing 2008) and made a documentary with Wendy Johnson called The Baluch. Her feature script Patriotville was produced in 2009.

Bill Plympton - AnimatorBill Plympton's animated films include his latest feature Idiots & Angels, Hair High, which won the Gold Jury Prize at the Fant-Asia festival in Montreal, and the short film Guard Dog, which won the Best Short Prize at Anima Mundi and a special prize at the Hiroshima Animation Festival. Past projects include Mutant Aliens, I Married a Strange Person, and The Tune. His short films have been seen widely around the country, highlighting many animation festivals, and on DVD in the Plymptoons and Mondo Plympton collections.

Peter Saraf - ProducerPeter's most recent production credits include Our Idiot Brother, Sunshine Cleaning, Away We Go, and the 2006 Academy Award® winning Little Miss Sunshine. Peter also produced Liev Schreiber's enchanting adaptation of Everything Is Illuminated and executive produced Spike Jonze's critically acclaimed Adaptation, starring Nicholas Cage. In 2004, with Marc Turtletaub, Peter formed Big Beach Films, a New York-based production company that finances and produces independent films. Other producer credits include The Truth About Charlie,Mandela, Ulee's Gold, Courage and Pain, Into the Rope and Storefront Hitchcock. Peter's most recent production credits include Our Idiot Brother, Lucky and the 2006 Academy Award® winning Little Miss Sunshine.

Steve Savage - President & Co-Founder, New Video, Docurama
Steve is president and co-founder of New Video, a New York based DVD company. New Video has released a catalog of over 1,500 titles under The History Channel, A&E, NBC and IFC imprints. Since 1999, New Video has distributed a catalog of over 100 independent and classic documentaries under their Docurama label. For preschoolers the company offers a series of classic children¹s books on DVD under the Scholastic brand. Visit Docurama or New Video for more info.

Liev Schreiber - Actor, DirectorLiev Schreiber has quickly established himself as one of the most versatile actors of his generation through his ability to effortlessly play roles ranging from classical Shakespearean to contemporary film. Among his film credits are, most recently, Salt, Repo Men, Taking Woodstock, Love in the Time of Cholera, The Painted Veil, The Manchurian Candidate, The Sum of All Fears, Kate & Leopold, Spring Forward, The Hurricane, and A Walk on the Moon. He made his directorial debut with Everything is Illuminated in 2005.

Zachary Sklar - ScreenwriterZachary Sklar is a screenwriter, journalist, author, and editor. His most recent feature is The Feast of the Goat, based on the novel of the same name by Mario Vargas-Llosa. The film was directed by Luis Llosa and stars Isabella Rossellini. Zach is best known as co-author (with Oliver Stone) of the Oscar-nominated screenplay for the film JFK. He has served as a creative adviser for screenwriting labs sponsored by Sundance (Utah), Sundance International (Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Jordan), Equinoxe (France), and the Australian Film Commission.

Lori Singer - Actress, Musician
Lori Singer is a Golden Globe winning actress and accomplished solo cellist. A Juilliard graduate, she performed her first solo with an international orchestra at age 13. As a lead actress, she has starred in such films as Footloose, Short Cuts, Falcon and the Snowman, The Man with One Red Shoe, Trouble in Mind, Equinoxi> and was a lead on the television series Famei>. She played cello opposite Yo Yo Ma in Atom Egoyan's Ode to Bach. She recently executive produced her first documentary, Mea Maxima Culpa; Silence in House of God, which won 3 Emmys, including one for exceptional merit in documentary filmmaking, in 2013.

John Sloss - Attorney, Producer, Cinetic MediaJohn Sloss is the principal in Sloss Law Office and a founder of Cinetic Media, a consulting firm specializing in the entertainment and media industries. He is also a partner in Independent Digital Entertainment (InDigEnt), an innovative production company dedicated to making digital features in collaboration with established filmmakers and actors. Sloss has served as executive producer or producer on Me and Orson Welles, I'm Not There, A Scanner Darkly, Lonesome Jim, Before Sunset, Before Sunrise, The Company, Boys Don't Cry, Pieces of April, The Fog of War, Far From Heaven, Tadpole, and Waking Life. He has orchestrated some of the most notable distribution deals in the last decade, including Little Miss Sunshine, Napoleon Dynamite, Super Size Me, Control Room, Capturing the Friedmans and The Station Agent.

Fisher Stevens - Actor, Producer, DirectorFisher Stevens is an accomplished actor, director and producer. In addition to performing both on the stage and in numerous television series (most recently in the hit series Lost), Stevens has starred in a wide range of feature films, such as Reversal of Fortune, The Flamingo Kid, Hackers, Short Circuit, Only You, and Undisputed as well as TV series Lost. In 1998, Stevens co-founded GreeneStreet Films, a New York-based independent production company, with John Penotti. Since then, the company has produced and financed a number of critically acclaimed films, such as In the Bedroom, Pinero, Swimfan, The Chateau, and Lisa Picard is Famous. Stevens made his feature film directorial debut with GreeneStreet's Just a Kiss. Fisher is currently serving as executive producer on American Masters: Woody Allen-A Documentary.

David Strathairn - Actor David is an accomplished film and stage actor. He has appeared in many independent and studio films including Howl, The Whistle Blower, The Uninvited, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Map of the World, LA Confidential, Simon Birch, Dolores Claiborne, The River Wild, Silkwood and many more. He is best known for his work with director John Sayles, which includes Limbo, Passion Fish, Eight Men Out, Matewan, Brother From Another Planet and Return of the Secaucus Seven.

Lemore Syvan, Producer, Elevation FilmworksLemore's most recent films include Henry's Crime, Coach, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee and Gracie. Previous films include King of the Corner, Rebecca Miller's The Ballad of Jack and Rose (Sundance 2005), Duane Hopwood (Sundance 2005), John Sayles' Casa de Los Babys, and Rebecca Miller's Personal Velocity (grand prize winner at 2002 Sundance Film Festival). She heads the production company Elevation Filmworks.

Christine Vachon, Producer
Vachon is the prolific producer of critically acclaimed films such as Kids, I Shot Andy Warhol, Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven, Boys Don't Cry and the cult favorite Hedwig and the Angry Inch. She also produced Still Alice, for which Julianne Moore won an Academy Award as well as the 2014 Woodstock Film Festival official selection Wildlike.

The Woodstock Film Festival is an educational not-for-profit, 501 (C)(3) organization with a mission to present an annual
program and year-round schedule of film, music, and art-related activities that promote artists, culture, inspired learning, and diversity.